Thursday, August 25, 2011

Running on Pure Adrenaline: Aug. 25, 2011

As the clock struck midnight, all members of our PP11 team were still busily working in each of their subcommittees. The desire for sleep was overwhelming, but the necessity to finish planning the morning's activities drove them to power through. This night proved especially difficult for the leadership team because activities addressing time management and budgeting were hard to find. Also, the leadership workshops began at 8 am instead of in the afternoon, so any morning preparation was eliminated. However, they embraced this challenge and finalized the agenda by 3 am.

The Leadership Team hard at work at 1 am

A short four hours later, the entire PP11 team met in the lobby for a quick breakfast before a timely departure to Cebu City National Science High School. Natasha energized the groggy group with a variation of head, shoulders, knees, and toes called "alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic!" This energizer gave us all the extra boost we needed to jump start the day!

We had a rough start once we arrived at CCNSHS. The library, the room where we usually have our activities, was locked and there were no teachers or staff to be found. Luckily, some of the students found us and brought us to an empty dance room. A lot of the mentees (including mine) were not present even after waiting for over half an hour, so we started our workshop without them. The Children's Team started off with the media development. Ross and Natasha worked together on the development of the informational pamphlet. Ross had one group that designed the nutritional information page, while Natasha's group made the exercise activity page. Amy and Jenssy guided the remaining students in developing a skit to present in the elementary schools. After an hour of tirelessly working, the entire group reconvened in the library to share the media that their specific groups had developed.

Once in the library, the group transitioned from media development to our leadership workshop. Today, we covered the topics of the different types of leaders, goal setting, time management, budgeting, and fundraising. To begin these activities, four posters were placed around the room. Each of these posters were titled with one of the cardinal directions which was representative of one of the four main types of leaders. The North was The "Get It Done Person," the South was The Nurturer, the East was The Visionary, and the West was The Analyst. Along with these titles were listed traits and characteristics describing each of these types of leaders. The students were then given the task of determining which leader described themselves the best.

EAST: The Visionary

After determining which leader they were, the students had to work with the other students that identified in the same manner and plan a trip to Mars. The students were then challenged to determined what strengths they possessed while planning the trip and also identify what weaknesses hindered their plans. This activity illustrated the distinct qualities of each type of leader and highlighted the fact that other leaders can help compensate for other's weaknesses in order to achieve ultimate success.

"The North Face" shares their strengths and weaknesses

Once the mentees recognized the types of leaders they were, we moved onto the goal setting and time management portion of the workshop. With goal setting, the SMART method was introduced. This acronym, standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reachable, and Time Bound, gave students the guidance tools to remember when establishing goals. Next, the students were challenged to plan a cultural show on Filipino dance and music as a means of testing their time management skills. This activity proved the most difficult for the students because they repeatedly ran out of time in both the preparation and presentation portions of this activity. However, this allowed for extremely beneficial and constructive mentor/mentee bonding time. The mentees were able to identify what went wrong during the activity and pose their own solutions and advice. To finish off the mentor/mentee time, the "Dream Tree" was presented. The roots of the tree represented personal values, the trunk was personal abilities, and the leaves on top corresponded to dreams and aspirations. Mentees drew their own dream trees and identified specific aspects for the roots, trunk, and leaves.

Amanda proudly presents the "Dream Tree"

To finish off the leadership workshop, budgeting and fundraising were emphasized. Similar to the time management exercise, the mentees had to create a budget for a Filipino cultural event. They had to identify all of the expenses and determine exactly the magnitude of their event. After creating a budget, the mentees had to pitch to potential company sponsors represented by pairs of mentors. Each of the companies specialized in something specific, from food to sports to health to swag, and the students had to cater each pitch to their business interests. The students that took initiative and presented a pitch were quite eloquent and persuasive. However, not every student presented a pitch, so we will return to this activity again next Friday to ensure that everyone gains from this important leadership lesson.

Happy Hearts Co. & Volcano Foods Enterprises

M&M Ltd : Ignite Your Passion For Sport

MMM.. Lechon! The BEST in Cebu!

Providing every party with the proper SWAG!

The pitches concluded the leadership workshops for the day. After saying our goodbyes and watching an impressive performance of the dougie by the Cobarde twins, the mentors feasted on some Malaysian dishes for lunch at Ayala shopping center. At the end of this delicious meal, the mentors participated in light-hearted games of thumb wars and arm wrestling before heading back to Fuente Oro for a much needed and deserved afternoon of resting and naps.

Do it for China (and England too)!

Jessie sweeps team Korea and Malaysia in one sitting

After resting for a few hours, the group reconvened for a Persian dinner. The rest and meal revitalized the team and fostered a lively and engaged debrief of the day's activities. The team then quickly finished our SIO by establishing concrete objectives. From there, the group split into their subcommittees to finalize plans for the UP High students and finish preparations for the upcoming health fair and children's fiesta day!


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